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Plunder
Virus in the jungles of Guatemala threaten an epidemic. Can the CDC find its source and stop it?
Dr. Brett Carson, Epidemic Intelligence Service agent for the Centers for Disease Control, just back from five months in the Arctic, is hurriedly sent to Guatemala to investigate the source of a mysterious and deadly Ebola-like virus that is sweeping through jungle villages. Brett soon meets the beautiful Kari Wheeler, daughter of an anthropologist who is searching the area for ancient Mayan tombs and artifacts. Civil war, tomb raiders, a rescue dog, a bullet-riddled Jeep, and an outbreak of the disease at an isolated New Mexico monastery lead Brett and Kari on a perilous chase to identify and stop the spread of the virus—and well as save their own lives from relentless killers who are closing in on their trail.
Foreword Clarion Reviews
Plunder is an intriguing thriller sparked by the discovery of a virus in the jungles of Guatemala.
Dr. Brett Carson, Epidemic Intelligence Service agent for the Centers for Disease Control, just back from five months in the Arctic, is hurriedly sent to Guatemala to investigate the source of a mysterious and deadly Ebola-like virus that is sweeping through jungle villages. Brett soon meets the beautiful Kari Wheeler, daughter of an anthropologist who is searching the area for ancient Mayan tombs and artifacts. Civil war, tomb raiders, a rescue dog, a bullet-riddled Jeep, and an outbreak of the disease at an isolated New Mexico monastery lead Brett and Kari on a perilous chase to identify and stop the spread of the virus—and well as save their own lives from relentless killers who are closing in on their trail.
Foreword Clarion Reviews
Plunder is an intriguing thriller sparked by the discovery of a virus in the jungles of Guatemala.
476 pages, Paperback
Published April 10, 2020
2 people want to read
About the author
Keith Wilson
2 books3 followersDr. Keith Wilson is a graduate of the Ohio State University College of Medicine, where he earned several academic honors and was chosen outstanding senior student in medicine and graduated cum laude. He was elected to the AOA Medical Honorary Society in both his Junior and Senior years. He completed his diagnostic radiology residency in Denver, Colorado, where he was also chief resident.
He was the director of the MRI Section at Toledo Hospital and was the medical director of the PET-CT / MRI outpatient office. He also worked exclusively for the last fifteen years at the Promedica Breast Care Center, specializing in the diagnosis of breast cancer.
In addition to four published books, Keith has also written several short stories and has won awards, among them the Hemingway Short Story Contest and The National Writer’s Club contest.
Since retiring, he and his wife, Cathy, now divide their time between Ohio, Cape Cod, and Florida.
He was the director of the MRI Section at Toledo Hospital and was the medical director of the PET-CT / MRI outpatient office. He also worked exclusively for the last fifteen years at the Promedica Breast Care Center, specializing in the diagnosis of breast cancer.
In addition to four published books, Keith has also written several short stories and has won awards, among them the Hemingway Short Story Contest and The National Writer’s Club contest.
Since retiring, he and his wife, Cathy, now divide their time between Ohio, Cape Cod, and Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 23, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
When we first read Plunder, Dr. Brett Carson has just come off the plane from helping a young boy gain his vision back from a disease. The book was something that I had originally been very interested in, which is one of the reasons why I requested it on NetGalley, however, as we got deeper into the book, I found it not surprising while reading it, finding some parts rather... Predictable.
I did not finish Plunder, finding many things lacking and stopping at 64% after finding this lacking a few things that had originally made me interested. The plot in the beginning with this disease that has surfaced was quite interesting but as we continued on, it felt boring and just something that I started to lose interest in.
While this is an ARC and I don't expect final formatting to be entirely accurate, there were some grammatical areas like when they were speaking Spanish that seemed like something that should be a focus on especially if it is not your first language. This was shown clear when there were parts where "girl" which is usually "Niña" in Spanish, was translated as "Niño" which is "boy" in Spanish. Such simple words should have been correct from the start. And while my Spanish is not strong, I do know the basics enough see mistakes throughout the book. I was willing to overlook this fact if it had happened at least twice, but it just started to become frequent and I could not move past the numerous mistakes.
Overall, I had high hopes for this. Reading this during COVID-19, I thought it would be interesting to pick something like this up. It saddens me that this did not peak my interest and that I had to stop this book.
Thank you again to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Find me on:
My Blog | My BookTube | My Book Club | Instagram | Twitter
When we first read Plunder, Dr. Brett Carson has just come off the plane from helping a young boy gain his vision back from a disease. The book was something that I had originally been very interested in, which is one of the reasons why I requested it on NetGalley, however, as we got deeper into the book, I found it not surprising while reading it, finding some parts rather... Predictable.
I did not finish Plunder, finding many things lacking and stopping at 64% after finding this lacking a few things that had originally made me interested. The plot in the beginning with this disease that has surfaced was quite interesting but as we continued on, it felt boring and just something that I started to lose interest in.
While this is an ARC and I don't expect final formatting to be entirely accurate, there were some grammatical areas like when they were speaking Spanish that seemed like something that should be a focus on especially if it is not your first language. This was shown clear when there were parts where "girl" which is usually "Niña" in Spanish, was translated as "Niño" which is "boy" in Spanish. Such simple words should have been correct from the start. And while my Spanish is not strong, I do know the basics enough see mistakes throughout the book. I was willing to overlook this fact if it had happened at least twice, but it just started to become frequent and I could not move past the numerous mistakes.
Overall, I had high hopes for this. Reading this during COVID-19, I thought it would be interesting to pick something like this up. It saddens me that this did not peak my interest and that I had to stop this book.
Thank you again to NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Find me on:
My Blog | My BookTube | My Book Club | Instagram | Twitter
July 19, 2021
With a job that brings him face to face with the world’s deadliest diseases, Brett Carson is not your average workaholic. As an Epidemic Intelligence Service agent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he’s considered the best at identifying and eliminating potential epidemics. His next case will lead him deep into the remote jungles of Guatemala, searching for the source of a virus that kills its victims within 24 hours. Washed-out roads, civil war, and poisonous snakes are just a few things to keep him on his toes during the relentless search for answers. But the sweltering heat and a beautiful American woman will also give Brett reasons to sweat as the danger surrounding his investigation continues to grow at an alarming rate...
Full-length OnlineBookClub review: https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...
I received a review copy from OnlineBookClub.org
My opinions are my own.
Full-length OnlineBookClub review: https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...
I received a review copy from OnlineBookClub.org
My opinions are my own.
September 3, 2020
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book. I'm providing my honest opinion voluntarily.
Rounded up to 2.5 stars.
TRIGGER WARNING: graphic descriptions of medical issues, disease epidemic, gore, murder, attempted rape, mention of rape, kidnapping
The story starts out really interestingly. It follows CDC doctor Brett Carson as he travels around trying to gather information about a new and lethal disease, found deep in the jungles of Guatemala. He encounters an intriguing archaeologist and his gorgeous daughter. But from nearly the moment he arrives in Guatemala, things don't go as planned. There are multiple storylines throughout the book, but they all relate and converge into one at the end of the book.
I loved the amount of action and I was hooked early on. I knew that even though the story took place in various locations, everything would end up tying in at some point, and I wasn't wrong. It made the story a bit more predictable though, so I was not as surprised by many of the plot twists as I was expecting to be.
Generally, the books I receive through NetGalley are ARCs, and I'm able to forgive the formatting and editing issues that I encounter. However, this book was one that was published in April of 2020, so I was surprised at how many spelling and grammar errors I noticed, which I found to be a major distraction, along with the formatting issues. There would be half a sentence cut off, with the next sentence continuing on, and the rest of the cut off sentence would be found lower in the paragraph.
Since a lot of the book took place in Guatemala, there was a lot of Spanish included in the text. Unfortunately, it seemed as though the author just used an online translation rather than actually asking someone who speaks Spanish fluently. I have a fairly good understanding of Spanish language, and while I'm not totally fluent, I was able to pick up quite a few major problems. Some examples include people who live in Guatemala and speak Spanish as a first language would not say things like:
"Are there any el tesoro..." which translates to "Are there any the treasure..."
or calling a girl they view as a daughter a "niño" which means "boy."
If it only happened once or twice, I probably wouldn't have been bothered by it, but it happened far too often to overlook, and it definitely affected my rating.
In addition to the action/thriller/medical mystery part of the story, there was also a romance that superseded all the other aspects of the story, which I didn't expect. I knew there was a romance involved, but I didn't think it was the main focus of the story. Once the romance got going, it was kind of like all the other parts of the story fell to the wayside. The romance wasn't bad, but the sex scenes weren't very sexy - it was definitely a case of "men writing women," with *very sexy scenes* that were redundant and written like this:
"He stood, pulled her to him, and kissed her with a passionate kiss. He kissed her neck, softly pushed her hair from her face, then kissed her neck."
"'Oh ... wait,' she whispered, but her body said otherwise. She made no move to stop him and pushed her pelvis toward him."
"Her pelvis gently pushed against him in a very seductive way as she leaned over and kissed his chest."
I would have preferred to see a scene that included consent, or one where he respected her consent. I was also confused at the repeated use of the word "pelvis" in sex scenes, since it's such a medical term and not really a term that's sexy or commonly found in erotic scenes. I found it really difficult to get absorbed in these scenes or even find them sexy.
I probably would have rated this book higher if it had been edited better, and if the Spanish was checked for accuracy. The story was interesting, but all the other issues were distracting and consistently took me out of the story.
Rounded up to 2.5 stars.
TRIGGER WARNING: graphic descriptions of medical issues, disease epidemic, gore, murder, attempted rape, mention of rape, kidnapping
The story starts out really interestingly. It follows CDC doctor Brett Carson as he travels around trying to gather information about a new and lethal disease, found deep in the jungles of Guatemala. He encounters an intriguing archaeologist and his gorgeous daughter. But from nearly the moment he arrives in Guatemala, things don't go as planned. There are multiple storylines throughout the book, but they all relate and converge into one at the end of the book.
I loved the amount of action and I was hooked early on. I knew that even though the story took place in various locations, everything would end up tying in at some point, and I wasn't wrong. It made the story a bit more predictable though, so I was not as surprised by many of the plot twists as I was expecting to be.
Generally, the books I receive through NetGalley are ARCs, and I'm able to forgive the formatting and editing issues that I encounter. However, this book was one that was published in April of 2020, so I was surprised at how many spelling and grammar errors I noticed, which I found to be a major distraction, along with the formatting issues. There would be half a sentence cut off, with the next sentence continuing on, and the rest of the cut off sentence would be found lower in the paragraph.
Since a lot of the book took place in Guatemala, there was a lot of Spanish included in the text. Unfortunately, it seemed as though the author just used an online translation rather than actually asking someone who speaks Spanish fluently. I have a fairly good understanding of Spanish language, and while I'm not totally fluent, I was able to pick up quite a few major problems. Some examples include people who live in Guatemala and speak Spanish as a first language would not say things like:
"Are there any el tesoro..." which translates to "Are there any the treasure..."
or calling a girl they view as a daughter a "niño" which means "boy."
If it only happened once or twice, I probably wouldn't have been bothered by it, but it happened far too often to overlook, and it definitely affected my rating.
In addition to the action/thriller/medical mystery part of the story, there was also a romance that superseded all the other aspects of the story, which I didn't expect. I knew there was a romance involved, but I didn't think it was the main focus of the story. Once the romance got going, it was kind of like all the other parts of the story fell to the wayside. The romance wasn't bad, but the sex scenes weren't very sexy - it was definitely a case of "men writing women," with *very sexy scenes* that were redundant and written like this:
"He stood, pulled her to him, and kissed her with a passionate kiss. He kissed her neck, softly pushed her hair from her face, then kissed her neck."
"'Oh ... wait,' she whispered, but her body said otherwise. She made no move to stop him and pushed her pelvis toward him."
"Her pelvis gently pushed against him in a very seductive way as she leaned over and kissed his chest."
I would have preferred to see a scene that included consent, or one where he respected her consent. I was also confused at the repeated use of the word "pelvis" in sex scenes, since it's such a medical term and not really a term that's sexy or commonly found in erotic scenes. I found it really difficult to get absorbed in these scenes or even find them sexy.
I probably would have rated this book higher if it had been edited better, and if the Spanish was checked for accuracy. The story was interesting, but all the other issues were distracting and consistently took me out of the story.
June 26, 2021
Plunder is a kind of crossover between Indiana Jones and Cornwell's Scarpetta. A kind of medical thriller combined with an adventure novel.
The first couple of chapters I had some difficulty getting into the story, but after a while I got sucked into the narrative.
Brett Carson is a doctor with the CDC who gets sent to Guatamala to investigate a couple of very sudden deaths that seem to point at the appearance of a new, very lethal, virus or bacteria.
This is the start of a lot of suspenseful events that will send him chasing archaeologists and monks through al couple of states and country's, accompanied by his newly adopted dog, Tequila.
Plunder is a fast-paced thriller I would recommend for a light read during your holiday.
I want to thank Netgalley for prividing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
The first couple of chapters I had some difficulty getting into the story, but after a while I got sucked into the narrative.
Brett Carson is a doctor with the CDC who gets sent to Guatamala to investigate a couple of very sudden deaths that seem to point at the appearance of a new, very lethal, virus or bacteria.
This is the start of a lot of suspenseful events that will send him chasing archaeologists and monks through al couple of states and country's, accompanied by his newly adopted dog, Tequila.
Plunder is a fast-paced thriller I would recommend for a light read during your holiday.
I want to thank Netgalley for prividing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
August 24, 2020
This is fast action page turning thrill ride that has so many twists and turns that you can almost get whiplash. A true who dunnit where reason and ideologies are a main stay of the story line Nothing is as it seems Yes the bad guys have some redeeming qualities and the good guys make some borderline decisions but isn't that how life really is. A thrilling book that had me turning pages as fast as i could
May 30, 2020
Loved this book. Reminded me of Jack Reacher with a medical twist but not quite as dark. Fast paced, believable characters, plenty of surprises right up to the end, and best of all, an excellent dog.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews